Whenever an act appears out of London, you can't help but be skeptical of their intentions. Is it the scene they are involved in? Is it the fashion? Is it even about the music?

Well, to be honest, all these questions apply to the hotly tipped Hype Williams, (not the US music video director) but they have one advantage - their music is damn good and catchy. I keep going back to my own description of them, "[A] Top Gun soundtrack meddling with the back catalogue of Boards Of Canada".

Hype Williams' posses an ultra lo-fi sound on what seems like a very limited budget, I am definitely down with that, over production seems to kill music these days. Having said that ultra lo-fi music seems to be all the rage right now, acts like Ariel Pink and Washed Out utilize under processed music with a heavy nod to the '80s.

Hype Williams use 'Blunt and Copeland' as their aliases, a pair of young East Londoners’ who prefer to remain heavily obscure and anonymous. One lives in Berlin, the other in London. They have a unique obsession with Canadian rapper Drake and have put together probably the best glue-sniffing influenced cover of Sade I've ever heard.

Songs like 'Rescue Dawn II' are strange but ultimately familiar, contain samples of crying babies stretched out, accompanied by drifting beats and breezy synths. It all seems to work, never heading to far into unknown. It's tribal and dark, attractive and simple.

Their best track 'Blue Dreams' recalls a strangely addictive dream that you've had many times - you know the one where Emilio Estivez is singing the theme to St. Elmo's Fire. It has this brilliant bass synth, which comes in at about the 30 second mark, that totally envelopes you.

'Chatline', which was premiered on Benji B's BBC 1xtra show in April, lasts for over ten minutes, it's a loooong heavy trip that you're hypnotized by, soft toy like snare beats pitter patter over gloomy melodies. Really seductive and strange.

Williams comes from a number of associated hipster music groups in London such as Paradise Sisters, Arch M, Hounds of Hate who we have already featured and the Bo Khat Eternal Troof Family Band. Their output is prolific but very hard to purchase, so far they have one untitled LP to their name out on Carnivals label.

The duo will have an Untitled 7" EP released in September and their next record Untitled #2 will be released by Destijl records this fall.

You can download a bunch of their earlier tracks right here.

Three years ago, Matthew Dear was playing with house money. The Texas-born producer's hit 'Mouth to Mouth' was still cycling and pumping through sound systems all over the world, and his second full-length solo album, Asa Breed, caught journalists and music fans everywhere by surprise. A carefully mixed and unexpectedly touching revelation, Asa Breed redefined what an EDM solo album could sound like, and even today, its combination of painstakingly positioned vocals, off-balance beats and thoughtful-yet-cryptic lyrics makes for a compelling listen.

As much as anything else, Asa Breed put Dear and his parent label, Ghostly International, on the map. And now, three years later, its follow-up, Black City, Dear is looking to plant his flag deeper in that same territory. Deeper and more focused than its predecessor, Black City floats, swoons and heaves in a space that Asa Breed tiptoed around with a great deal of trepidation. Or, to put it another way, it takes the gauntlet that Asa Breed threw down, fills it with iron and lead filings, and throws it down even harder.

I spoke with Dear just after he got off a plane in New York to talk about the pressure of releasing music regularly, the mindset he gets into when he makes music, and the limited edition sculptures he's releasing Black City on, and here's what happened.

Up until really recently, there was this understood timeline for artists, where every 18 months to two years you'd be expected to make a record, tour it, then repeat. But you don't really have the luxury - or option - of working that way because of all your responsibilities to both Audion and Spectral Sound. Did the fact that over three years have passed between Matthew Dear records worry you at all?

I was talking with the label about this the other day, and...it's weird because it's not like I stopped music, I just shifted to a totally different thing, and then I realized, "Oh crap, it's been quite a while since the last album!" I was just trying to keep everything going in different directions.

I definitely work on everything constantly at the same time. I never take a total hiatus from any alias, but I think the release part is the thing you worry about. A couple years go by, and you think, "Oh shit, i haven't released any music in three years." It didn't affect the songwriting process in any way, though. I've been creating stuff in all those genres since then.

But it does seem like music is heading toward a paradigm where artists release stuff in smaller, more frequent chunks. Did you ever think to yourself, "Do i even have to make a record? Why not just release a bunch of EPs, or release when i've got something good that my fans might want to hear?"

[laughs] That thought definitely crossed my mind. I think that I do like albums still, I like the impact of a collection of songs can have and that format. I'm not saying it has to be a physical CD, but just having that breath of new music come from a n artist represents something. I definitely flirt with the idea of constantly releasing music, but with this, it had gotten so far away from Asa Breed that it was necessary to make an album statement rather than slowly leaking stuff out. Actually, with the remixes I did, I think that was a good way to get people back into the stuff i was working on and show how my production had changed; I did that remix for the xx, and some other things, and I think that helped get people back into that frame of mind.

Plus, the circumstances surrounding this record are quite different. Asa Breed was such a huge critical success. Did you feel any pressure to top it, or at the very least, live up to its expectations?

As an artist, you're always aware, a little bit, of what people think of your previous work. But there's several ways to handle that pressure and that awareness. You can't let it contort the way you work in the studio, but I'm of the opinion that you're only as good as your last piece of art, and so in my opinion, I wanted to make a better album than Asa Breed because iv'e learned a lot more in the studio and i've bought more gear and more equipment, and so it's my responsibility as a kind of lab technician scientist to come up with a better product. I wanted to do better.

So you put that on yourself every time you go into the studio?

Yeah. Why not? It's my responsibility.

You did another interview recently in which the tone of your music is a reaction against the craziness of New York. I thought that was interesting, because I took that to mean that you don't write on the road. Is there a particular environment that you like to work in, or a particular head space?

When I do that kind of music, it's always at home, my studio's at home. I work on ideas on the road, but I can't afford to lug around the equipment I like to have with me. Even if it's just the guitar, it's an extra bag you have to check and carry around. I usually work from home. That's where the attitude and the feeling comes from.

But you do tour quite a bit, and I imagine that when you come home, there must be this real temptation to just relax. How do you balance those feelings of wanting to just be home with your wife and relax and maybe the anxiety of realizing that you have these obligations?

The best part is that relaxing, to me, is making music. That's how I meditate and just lose myself from the constant routine and rigmarole of life. I have to look out, because I can easily get sucked into the studio and not have enough time for the day to day normal stuff. Music to me is very meditative and very relaxing, so I almost crave [that], when I'm on the road so much. I get ideas when I'm DJing, and I think, "I want to try that when i get home," or even just home stuff, and rock music that I'm listening to.

It's just trying to get a balance, that's what it's all about.

I find it interesting that you characterize it as meditative, because songs like 'Black City' and 'More Surgery' are really quite dark. You've said in previous interviews that lyric writing tends to be about inhabiting or channelling characters. In this case, are they literary characters, people you meet in your life? Who or what did you draw on for Black City?

I think Asa Breed was a little bit more based on fictitious, imaginary characters, but who were based on me as well. I fully live vicariously through those imaginary characters. Asa Breed was more about lighthearted love, and young relationships, whereas I think Black City is more internal, and it's more personal. I'm not making up very many characters, it's all based on my personality and things that I've experienced, I think, more in a time-traveling sense. There's things from my past, and things that I imagine, from my future.

It’s probably fair to say that Steve Pavlovic (those in the know call him Pav) is something of a legendary figure in the Australian music scene. He first got a foothold as a promoter bringing some of the biggest names in nineties music – think Beastie Boys, Nirvana and Beck – to Australia’s shores which in turn led to him being inundated with demos from local bands. But what to do with all this new domestic music? Well, start a label of course, and so 1998 saw the birth of Modular and the first LP by The Avalanches. Since then, the label has carved a niche for itself as the home of the best in Australian electro; Presets, Cut Copy and Midnight Juggernauts, to name a few, all belong to the Modular stable. When he’s not surfing with his daughter at Bondi Beach he’s buried somewhere in his office and told Electronic Beats all about what makes Pav tick.

What were your original aims when you started Modular and are they still relevant today?

Yes and no. Music has changed dramatically since 1998 so our day- to-day aims and the ways we go about achieving them are starkly different to how they were back then. Most simply I started the label to release music I was psyched about and have some fun doing it, and in essence that ethos stays true today.

What are the biggest pros and cons of running a label?

The pros are working with people I respect and admire everybody and seeing them start from humble beginnings to achieving the accolades I felt they deserved from the beginning. The cons... well the music industry’s full of cons, but that’s another article entirely.

Does experience make it harder to get excited about new bands?

In a way, but I still get no less psyched when I find something I truly love than I ever did.

The global financial crisis has been a disaster for many indie labels. How has Modular weathered the storm?

On the whole I think what we do, be it record releases, parties or tours, is probably enjoyed by a relatively niche audience to whom investment in entertainment and culture is a huge part of their lives, and not necessarily a massively expensive one at that. So they didn’t seem to slow up because the global economy was going tits up.

Which Modular artist are you most proud of and why?

That’s a bit like picking a favourite child. You can’t really do it. I can honestly say we’re proud of what we’ve achieved with all our acts on different levels and for different reasons. I’m proud of The Avalanches’ record we released because it felt like a truly exciting record, and it was a massively fun time, and the record has endured and seems to have remained important until today. I’m immensely proud of what we’ve achieved with both The Presets and Cut Copy.

Presets, Cut Copy, Midnight Juggernauts, to name a few, all come from Australia – what is it in the water there that is producing all this fantastic electronic music?

It was kinda weird that all this stuff emerged from Australia around the same time and was able to endure and go on to become so popu- lar internationally. I think it was part coincidence that it all came around the same time, but once it all emerged it was also maybe a bit of them all forming a scene down here, playing together and pushing each other.

But has the scene managed to retain its edge?

Dance music has become pretty mainstream in Australia. To me, it’s possibly not as exciting as it was a few years ago but Australians still have an insatiable thirst for dance music on all levels. Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth are probably the hungriest.

What new stuff should we be keeping an eye open for from Modular?

We have the Tame Impala record coming in June, CEO in July, we’re doing records by Klaxons and Robyn in Australia, plusnew music before the end of the year from Cut Copy, Muscles, Bag Raiders, Canyons, The Swiss, Ladyhawke and maybe even The Avalanches. We’ve got a bunch of tours, events and festivals in the works in Australia, the UK, the US and Europe, plus we’ll be launching a new range of death metal merchandise and opening a massage parlour.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Jamaica.

Kevin from Tame Impala is also featured in this issue. Tell us something about him that he’d never admit himself!

He is president of the Fremantle Chapter of Dungeons and Dragons 4 Lyfe!

Early this year, Midland was part responsible for one of the biggest tracks of the year with pal and cohort Ramadanman. Out of what seemed like nowhere, Midland was catapulted to centre stage with the monstrous ‘Your Words Matter’ released on Will Saul and Fink’s Aus Music imprint, also home to Appleblim, Joy Orbison and Will Saul himself.

Next came a much more housier affair, the Play The Game EP on London’s Phonica Records, just before which Midland curated a guestmix for the infamous Toddla T radio show on BBC Radio One.

So it seems, the last 6 months has been incredibly productive for young Harry ‘Midland’ Agius, and having just been snapped up by the WARM booking agency who also look after Henrick Schwarz, Space Dimension Controller, Mark E, The Revenge, plus a whole stack of other notable electronic artists, it seems the future is very bright for the young producer.

Keep your eyes out for forthcoming Midland releases and gigs.